Mentors in the Making: Women Teaching Women

Sharing knowledge is one of the five powerful practices at the heart of Project Ethiopia’s mission. What began in 2025 as an investment in women’s economic opportunity has grown into a story of shared skills and community strength. Our first cohort of women beekeepers collectively earned approximately $3,500 from selling their honey. For many of these women, this was the first time they have generated meaningful earnings of their own, allowing them to contribute to school fees, household needs, and small investments that build long‑term stability.

Following the successful 2025 women’s beekeeping program, a new co-hort of 100 women began their training this spring. A special part of this year’s program is that the women who excelled last season are now returning as mentors for the new beekeepers, passing on not only their technical skills but also the confidence, problem‑solving, and leadership that come from a successful first season.

New beekeepers Aleshign and Zomanesh with their mentors, Metenu (far left) and Yebirgual (holding beeswax)

Aleshign and Zomanesh, two of this year’s trainees, once believed beekeeping was a skill reserved for experts. Project Ethiopia’s training has shown them that with the right support, they too can do it. “After the training, we are fresh, ready for these activities,” they shared. “Training with mentors is exciting. We feel free to ask anything because they live the same life we do. When we see our mentors working, we ask ourselves, ‘If they can do it, why not us?’”

Thanks to the support of our donors, women like Aleshign and Zomanesh are gaining more than beekeeping skills. They’re gaining role models who are showing them what’s possible. Each hive becomes more than a source of income; it becomes a symbol of combined strength, shared knowledge, and futures built together.